1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector capable of connecting, disconnecting or switching an electric signal.
2. Description of the Background Art
Recent semiconductor devices are rapidly integrated, to result in increasing importance of an inspection step for semiconductor devices. Referring to FIG. 7 showing a conventional inspection step, several stages of boards are arranged between a semiconductor device 127 to be inspected and a test head 121 provided with terminals of a tester. First, a motherboard 122 is arranged immediately above the test head 121. This motherboard 122 is provided with contacts arranged in response to the arrangement of the terminals on the test head 121, and remains unchanged regardless of the type of the semiconductor device 127 to be inspected. A female contact terminal (not shown) is provided on an upper portion of the motherboard 122, to be connected with a male contact terminal (not shown) provided on a lower portion of a performance board 124 located above the same by a cable 123.
The performance board 124 is formed by a plurality of boards. Connectors 110 are arranged between the boards forming the performance board 124. A contactor (test board) 125 is arranged on the performance board 124. Terminals 126 of the semiconductor device 127 to be inspected are directly connected to the test board 125. In general, a large number of semiconductor chips 127 are inspected at the same time. Assuming that each semiconductor chip 127 is formed with tens of terminals, therefore, the connectors 110 arranged between the boards forming the performance board 124 are provided with thousands of terminals, in order to simultaneously inspect hundreds of semiconductor chips 127.
The performance board 124 or a socket board is provided between the motherboard 122 and the semiconductor device 127 to be inspected, in order to attain connection with flexibility in response to the type of the semiconductor device 127 to be inspected and the performance to be inspected.
The present invention is directed to the connectors 110 employed for connecting the boards forming the aforementioned performance board 124 with each other, for example. The connectors 110 are provided with thousands of terminals as hereinabove described, and hence particular notice must be taken in order to reliably connect the terminals.
FIGS. 8 and 9 show the structure of each of the conventional connectors 110 employed for connecting the aforementioned boards forming the performance board 124 with each other. FIG. 9 is a sectional view taken along the line IXxe2x80x94IX in FIG. 8. The structure of the connector 110 is now described with reference to connection. First, a male connector 110a and a female connector 110b are mated with each other so that each male connector terminal 102 fixed to a male connector body 101 is located between each pair of female connector terminals 105 fixed to a female connector body. Then, connector terminal switching mechanism parts 107 press the female connector terminals 105 against the male connector terminal 102 for bringing the male and female connectors 110a and 110b into contact with each other, thereby attaining electrical contact.
Then, a push-up mechanism part 106 moves up to push up the male connector body 101. Thus, the male connector terminal 102 moves upward in the state frictionally in contact with the female connector terminals 105. The male and female connector terminals 102 and 105 must essentially be frictionally connected with each other in order to stably maintain electrical connection in an excellent state in a connector having a large number of pins, to which the present invention is directed. Such frictional connection between the connector terminals 102 and 105 is referred to as wiping operation or simply as wiping. A mechanism for this wiping operation is provided around the aforementioned connection part. Thus, a signal line connected to the male connector 110a can be electrically connected with a signal line connected to the female connector 110b. 
In the aforementioned connector 110, the length of the connection part formed by the male and female connectors 110a and 110b is varied in wiping due to reciprocation of the male connector 110a. Therefore, the wiping mechanism provided around the aforementioned connection part must be so formed that the male connector 110a is reciprocative to vary the distance between the same and the female connector 110b. Consequently, the wiping mechanism provided around the connection part and other mechanism parts are complicated. Considering fluctuation of the width of the connector 110, a driving source such as a motor necessary for the wiping operation and a gear mechanism for transmitting the driving force must be arranged in an extremely complicated structure. In other words, the gear mechanism is complicated and the number of components for transmitting the driving force is increased. If the aforementioned reciprocation is unallowable, further, the type of the employed connector 110 must be limited.
In the aforementioned conventional connector 110, the signal lines connected to the male and female connector terminals 102 and 105 respectively are fixed in connectional association. In other words, the male and female connector terminals 102 and 105 must be connected or disconnected with or from each other while keeping fixed connectional association. Therefore, the aforementioned connectional association cannot be changed by mechanically operating the connector 110, for example.
A first object of the present invention is to provide a connector enabling wiping operation without changing the distance between a male connector and a female connector.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a connector capable of changing connectional association between a male connector terminal and a female connector terminal by mechanically operating the connector.
A connector according to a first aspect of the present invention comprises a male connector having a male connector body and a male connector terminal held by the male connector body, a female connector having a female connector terminal electrically connected with the male connector terminal and a female connector body holding the female connector terminal, a relay connector terminal movably mounted on either the male connector body or the female connector body, and a drive mechanism part bringing the relay connector terminal into contact with both of the male connector terminal and the female connector terminal and performing rubbing.
According to this structure, the distance between the male and female connectors may not be changed in wiping operation. Therefore, mechanism parts around the connector can be simplified. Further, height restriction against the used connector can be loosened. Each of the aforementioned drive mechanism part (wiping mechanism part) and a switching mechanism part described later is formed by a motor arranged around the connector and gears transmitting the driving force thereof. If the distance between the male and female connectors is varied, therefore, the arrangement of the aforementioned mechanisms is extremely complicated. Such complication of the mechanism parts around the connector can be relaxed due to the aforementioned structure. Consequently, components themselves can be simplified and the number of the components can be reduced. Further, the aforementioned mechanism parts can be improved in reliability and durability.
A connector according to a second aspect of the present invention comprises a male connector having a male connector body and at least two male connector terminals held by the male connector body and arranged along a prescribed direction and a female connector having at least two female connector terminals arranged along the same direction as the male connector terminals and a female connector body holding at least two female connector terminals. The connector also comprises a switching mechanism part inhibiting the male connector terminals and the female connector terminals from coming into electrical contact with each other in a first state and individually bringing the female connector terminals and the male connector terminals into electrical contact with each other when shifting from the first state to a second state. The connector further comprises a connection switching mechanism part rubbing either the male connector or the female connector with respect to the counterpart along the direction of arrangement of the connector terminals when the switching mechanism part is in the first state.
According to this structure, the male or female connector terminals can be displaced along the direction of arrangement thereof with no hindrance. Thus, the connector, i.e., a hard component, can switch the connectional relation. The connection switching mechanism part is formed by a mechanism similar to the aforementioned rubbing mechanism part.